The Harrisburg girls' basketball team will be making a return trip to the Civic Memorial High School/Adidas Shootout.

Harrisburg will take on Rochester at 1:30 p.m. on December 21st. The Bulldog junior varsity team will also be in action, playing Rochester at 11:30 a.m.

Harrisburg head coach Jake Stewart said he and his program are grateful for the strides made in his program and that outside influencers have taken notice.

"These kind of shoot outs are a long time coming. Nine years ago, we would have never been thought of to compete in one of these, but not, because of the hard work the girls have put into a program, we are being mentioned in the same breath as Quincy Notre Dame, Rochester and Piasa Southwestern.

"The great thing about this shoot out is going and playing someone we never would see and we also know it's going to be a big name school with a winning tradition."

Last season, Harrisburg took on Piasa Southwestern at the Civic Memorial Shootout losing 59-42 and snapped an 11-game Bulldog winning streak. At the time, Harrisburg was also ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Class 2A poll.

Unlike last year, Stewart has a different vision for this season. He returns one starter off last year's 28-6 ball club, but will still start five seasons. In the return trip to Civic Memorial, Stewart said he will take a different approach.

"I think last year, it was just weird, we weren't ready to play Piasa. I don't know if it was driving two hours? I don't know if it was watching the JV team play first in a different gym? But, this year, we might go up Friday for a shoot around (at Belleville West High School) set up by Stewart's friend and former Harrisburg standout Patton Seagraves and then spend the night, before playing on Saturday.

Make Me An Offer

Carson Parker has committed to McKendree. Nashville's 6-foot-6 wing guard recently committed to McKendree, who is also in the mix for getting Woodlawn's Blake McKay and Marion's Jackson Connor.

McKendree head coach Chris Foster made Parker a priority early on, offering Parker back in September of his junior year. Parker will join former Nashville standout and current McKendree freshman Bryce Bultman and senior Troy Pedtke.

Blake McKay picked up his first offer in his senior season.

The 6-foot-2 point guard from Woodlawn received an offer from McKendree College

McKay is a smooth shooter from the perimeter and has the handles to bring the ball up the court. A combo guard

McKay was selected to the 1A Honorable Mention All-State Team.

Marion big man Jackson Connor has received two offers this offseason.

The latest is from Division I Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee and the other, like McKay, comes from McKendree.

Connor, a 6-foot-6 guard who has a college ready body that can play multiple positions offensively and defends multiple positions, will be entering his senior season for the Wildcats was selected to the 2019 All South Basketball Team and was named Class 3A Honorable Mention All-State.

GRAC littered with local talent

A handful of local ballers will be competing in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference this upcoming fall.

West Frankfort's C.J. Johnson and Nashville's Tanner Bergmann will be playing at Kaskaskia, while Mt. Carmel's Austin Rager is staying close to home, suiting up for Wabash Valley. Chester standout Keith Kiner is continuing his career at Rend Lake College.

New Home

Former Mt. Carmel All-Stater Justin Carpenter has found a new home, playing for long-time SIU assistant and now current head coach at University of Southern Indiana's Rodney Watson.

Carpenter, who started his college career out at Southeast Missouri State, moved on to Wabash Valley last year.

The former Ace (6-9, 230) averaged 8.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for the Redhawks and then 7.6 points per game to go with 4.0 rebounds for WVC. Carpenter is joined by former teammate Charles Wilson, who also played for Wabash last season.

First Timers

Alton High School will be bringing a new shootout to the Metro East area on February 1st when the Redbirds host a 12-team showcase.

Mt. Vernon, will join Alton, along with Belleville East, Cahokia, Decatur Eisenhower, East St. Louis, Bogan and Madison will join, Missouri schools Trinity Catholic, Ladue and Hazelwood East, along with Evansville's Bosse High School.

Trinity Catholic's Ryan Kalkbrenner is a 6-foot-11, 210 pound ,4-start player that has committed to Illinois.

Kiyron Powell, a three-star rated center from Bosse has committed to Houston. Powel is a 6-9, 205 center that is ranked 165th in the nation.